Formula One: Vettel Ignores Team Orders, Takes Victory at Malaysian GP
Well, explosive doesn’t even come close to describing todays Formula One race in Malaysia. Amidst the humidity tempers boiled over for some, others made bad calls and many were left eating humble pie.
The Red Bull’s today were out and out fastest again this race whilst the Lotus car appeared to struggle in the heat. Ferrari’s Alonso suffered damage to his from wing on lap one and when told to stay out it led to the wing collapsing on lap two That then resulted in the prancing horse skipping across the gravel and out of the race. The changes from intermediate tyres to slicks caused a shuffling of the order that set the stage for the drama to come. Lewis Hamilton, who comically stopped in his old McLaren pit box by accident, was ahead of his team mate when he was told to put the car into a fuel saving mode. Rosberg was told to slow down and not to over take Hamilton. Gracefully Nico did as was asked of him saying “I am a Mercedes employee.” In contrast with Mark Webber leading the race, Sebastian Vettel battled with his team mate in a spectacular wheel-to-wheel dual. Mindful of their coming together in Turkey in 2010, Vettel was ordered to stop with comments of “come on Seb,this is getting silly now…” In a moment where Red Bull could have lost both cars Vettel squeezed through regardless of what his orders were. Considering the amount of times Mark has stepped aside for Sebastian, you can imagine the bitter atmosphere on the podium. The McLaren’s were again distinctly midfield but with the added insult of Jenson Button scoring a DNF.
1. Sebastian Vettel: Red Bull-Renault
2. Mark Webber: Red Bull-Renault
3. Lewis Hamilton: Mercedes-Mercedes
4. Nico Rosberg: Mercedes-Mercedes
5. Felipe Massa: Ferrari-Ferrari
6. Romain Grosjean: Lotus-Renault
7. Kimi Raikkonen: Lotus-Renault
8. Nico Hulkenberg: Sauber-Ferrari
9. Sergio Perez: McLaren-Mercedes
10. Jean-Eric Vergne: Toro Rosso-Ferrari
11. Valtteri Bottas: Williams-Renault
12. Esteban Gutierrez: Sauber-Ferrari
13. Jules Bianchi: Marussia-Cosworth
14. Charles Pic: Caterham-Renault
15. Giedo van der Garde: Caterham-Renault
16. Max Chilton: Marussia-Cosworth
17. Jenson Button: McLaren-Mercedes
18. Daniel Ricciardo: Toro Rosso-Ferrari
Retired: Pastor Maldonado: Williams-Renault
Retired: Adrian Sutil: Force India-Mercedes
Retired: Paul di Resta: Force India-Mercedes
Retired: Fernando Alonso: Ferrari-Ferrari
